Despite challenges, they encourage more women to join the cause, ‘change the world’

By: Susan Tebben – Ohio Capital Journal

When Kamala Harris was announced as the running mate for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign, the questions about her heritage, ethnicity and even eligibility for office came strongly from the opposition.

Now that she’s running for the top job following President Joe Biden’s suspension of his reelection campaign, the emphasis on her skin color and her gender has come back fast and furious, just as swiftly as the enthusiasm for her campaign brings big fundraising numbers to the camp.

“The United States has conflicting traditions,” said Dr. Susan Burgess, distinguished professor emerita of political science at Ohio University. “One of rampant racism and misogyny, and another toward greater change and inclusion.”

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the vice presidential candidate alongside former president Donald Trump, added to the rhetoric in a 2021 clip that has been brought back up in light of his new role. In the clip from a Fox News interview, he mentions the fact that Harris (and others) has not birthed any children of her own (she has two stepchildren with First Gentleman Doug Emhoff), and criticizes Democrats as “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

The comments don’t surprise those who are a part of or study the history of political campaigns, where sexism and misogyny are “alive and well,” according to Ohio University history professor Dr. Katherine Jellison.

“A man running for office, I’ve never heard comments about him being a childless cat/dog/fish person,” Jellison said. “These double standards are so blatantly on display and voiced whenever we have a prominent woman running.”

‘Attacks on the person, not the policy’

For women currently in the state legislature, criticism based on gender and family is nothing new. Even in local campaigns, female politicians have been underestimated and questioned on their merits in ways they say they don’t witness in male campaigns.

The Capital Journal contacted every female state representative and senator in the Ohio General Assembly to talk about their experience campaigning and working in politics. Included in the those who responded were the leaders of the minority side in both chambers, House Minority Leader Allison Russo and Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio.

Consistently, those that responded said they have talked to constituents with all sorts of interests and issues, and worked with local campaigns or in favor of local issues before they worked their way up to state office. Also consistently, it was their community and their families that were their biggest advocates.

 House Minority Leader Allison Russo, left, talks with Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, as they await the start of the Sept. 13, 2023, Ohio Redistricting Commission meeting.
(Photo by Susan Tebben, Ohio Capital Journal.)

Often, the women who are now representatives and senators didn’t intend to pursue politics until they were encouraged to or an issue motivated them to action. For most, misogyny wasn’t blatant, but the fact that they worked among a “boy’s club” was still highlighted.

“People told me I couldn’t win because, you know,” Antonio told the Capital Journal. “And I would make them say what that was, and it was because I was a lesbian.”

She faced the criticism of being a woman running for office, but called it a “false narrative that some people embrace, that I think they want to hang on to because frankly, I think we’re better at the job.”

The first time state Rep. Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, campaigned back in the early 1990s, she said she knocked on the door of a man in her community. She explained that she was running for local office and had a conversation with him about local issues.

“At the end he said, ‘You seem nice and all, but I would never vote for a woman,’” Ray said. “I had to tell him, ‘Well you’re in a bad way, because the two people going up for this are both women.’”

State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney fought against the fact that not only was she a woman running for office, but she was also a 25-year-old.

“Most people, when I’d go to the door, thought I was selling Girl Scout cookies,” she said.

Though she had worked as a staffer in the Statehouse and could point to quotes she’d written for elected officials, she still had to answer questions about her life experience.

“I was shocked at how many times they didn’t think I was the candidate,” Sweeney said.

As a single mom who had adopted her children from China, state Rep. Rachel Baker went through a similar struggle to other moms running for office, in that she balanced taking care of her family and campaigning.

But when Chinese flags appeared around her campaigns signs in the yards of her supporters, put there anonymously in the dark of night, she saw a different side of campaigning.

Russo – who also ran for a congressional seat in the U.S. House in 2021 against U.S. Rep. Mike Carey – said when she talks to women who are contemplating running for office, putting themselves out there, and even more, putting their family in the public eye is high on the list of reasons not to.

“It’s that piece that is the hesitation: Am I willing to open up my family for the level of scrutiny and potential for harassment,” Russo said.

She and other moms who campaigned often had no choice but to bring their kids along as they talked to voters, because of partner work schedules or a lack of alternative child care. Sometimes, that worked to the candidate’s advantage.

“Voters appreciated that because I’m a real person just trying to balance all the things in my life,” Russo said.

Still, she was questioned about who would care for her children.

“I’m pretty sure my male counterparts never got that question,” she said.

Accidental advantages

Dealing with heightened scrutiny as a woman in public office can be a struggle, but it can also be something that feels familiar to women who have faced challenges their entire lives and for which women already have coping mechanisms.

“You can’t change your ethnicity or race or sex,” said state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo. “I am who I am, and therefore you just have to deal with whatever those issues are.”

 COLUMBUS, Ohio — MAY 10: State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, speaks during the Ohio House session, May 10, 2023, at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)

Nothing can prepare you for “people writing the most heinous things about you,” as Sweeney said of social media attacks, but for many woman public officials, life has prepared them to work harder than might be expected of others.

“We think that we have to check certain boxes to run, and the reality is most of us are overqualified for office,” Russo said. “The woman candidates that I’ve worked with are incredibly good at putting together teams and networks, and that’s something that I think is very intuitive for women.”

Antonio said women are often “auditioning long before we see ourselves in that role” as a leader in the community or in politics.

State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, feels like “it’s much more relevant that I’m a woman” with the issues in the political spotlight these days, including reproductive health.

“I don’t think the legislature should be making decisions about people’s health, and the population that is directly impacted, I’m in it,” she said.

The state representatives and senators who talked to the Capital Journal had their start in smaller ways, whether it be working in the Statehouse, opening their houses for local candidate meet-and-greets, knocking on doors for local campaigns or volunteering in their children’s events. It was those efforts that gave them the inside scoop on the issues that were important to their neighbors and melded them into the community to the point that they would be encouraged to make bigger moves.

As a divorced young mom going to night school, one thing Ray liked to do with her free time was work on campaigns. In one Wadsworth race, the candidate left the race and after being encouraged to – and seeing an opportunity to help her son get his Boy Scout government badge – Ray decided to run.

Antonio was miffed after a pitch for her daughter and other Lakewood kids to have a safe place to skateboard fell to an uninterested city council, when the opportunity occurred to her.

“I came home and I said I’m sick of explaining what’s important in our community,” she said. “I could do that job, and I heard myself say I could do that job.”

Looking forward, reaching back

The road to November will be fast-paced for the Vice President and other women running for office, but there’s a sense of hope from public officials that more women will take up the cause, whether it be at a local, state or congressional level.

The women of the Ohio legislature emphasized the need for anyone seeking the job of representing their community to meet with those constituents, whether at campaign events or at the residents’ front doors.

 State Rep. Beth Liston, D-Dublin, speaks at a rally to protect abortion rights. (Photo from General Assembly website.)

“When you run for office, you’re often running to represent specific values, and you definitely learn the values of your constituents when you knock on doors,” said state Rep. Dr. Beth Liston, D-Dublin.

Not only do you get to hear what the community needs from their legislators, but candidates get to explain their “why” when it comes to running.

“I know because of the sacrifices that I’ve made to be in this position that some lives are better and people’s voices get heard because of the work that I do, and that gets me up and going everyday,” Sweeney said.

Russo, Ray, Sweeney, Baker, Piccolantonio and Liston are all running for reelection to their districts in the November general election.

And while the differences may be the focal point of campaigns against candidates in a political climate the public officials acknowledged is divisive and “terrifying” in some ways, those differences are reason enough for women to enter races.

“I don’t think differences are deficiencies,” Hicks-Hudson said. “I think they add flavor.”

It’s those who already hold office that can make the difference in whether or not more women come into the political space, too, according to Antonio.

“I think it’s important for those of us who are in office to encourage it,” the minority leader said. “You have to reach back as you climb, and bring folks with you.”

Comments like Vance’s “childless cat ladies” statement only serve as motivation for officials like Sweeney who see more women in office as the way to “change the world.”

“To say that I have no stake in America, that I can’t contribute … (Vance) clearly hasn’t been around a lot of women and doesn’t respect them,” Sweeney said.

Parsing through the messaging

Throughout the next three months (and already this election cycle), voters will go through the process of making decisions about who and what they want to choose in the general election. That means parsing through the heavy load of information coming from all sides about how to feel about those candidates and issues.

As elected officials who have read and distributed their fair share of campaign info, the legislators said it’s important to form opinions based on resources voters trust, and nonpartisan research like voting guides from the League of Women Voters of Ohio.

But it’s also just as important to base decisions on the issues and values that matter most to each voter, and vet each candidate based on those specific values.

“I personally think the voters should be able to interact with the people that are wanting to represent them,” Piccolantonio said.

When it comes to the presidential race, self-reflection and a vision for the future come right along with diligent research.

While some people might be looking for parity in representation, Antonio said she thinks some are ready “for a majority of women to be running things to right the ship.”

Right before Biden announced he would be abandoning his reelection bid, Antonio said she was pulled aside by a man who said, “Look, it’s time, can the women just … I know we’ve made a mess of this, could you just fix this for us?”

The Senate minority leader said she smiled.

“I looked at him and I said, ‘We’re working on it.”

______________